Visas
We each have a USA passport.We left home with only two visas pre-arranged (for Kazakhstan and Russia), and the rest we acquired on the road. You'd think some things would be standardized, like visa requirements, but we found the procedure varies wildly between embassies of the same country, located in different cities. Sometimes which country you get a visa for (for example, for China) is better acquired in some places than others, where it may not even be available.
We left with about 30 passport photos each and quickly used those up - they are required for everything from visas to SIM card applications to random paperwork. We had emailed ourselves our passport photos so just had more sheets of tiny pics of us printed out, and keep them at all times in my purse since they can be required in the most random circumstances.
It's important to check what currency the visas can be paid for in - many embassies require US dollars and some accept nothing but local currency. We left with a huge wad of dollars since they're useful for exchanging when ATMs are unavailable and for visa fees. We get dollars at banks when we don't have any with us, but again, some banks don't provide this service or it takes a long time of standing in line when you're in a hurry to get to the embassy before it closes, so we found it easier to travel with a stash.
As of February 2010, we have spent over $3500 on visas for both of us. The prices listed below are applicable to most western nationalities - only China and Pakistan were significantly more expensive for us as US nationals than other nationalities, and most nationalities need a visa for Mongolia.
Kazakh and Russian visas were straight-forward, following online procedures at each embassy in the US.
Mongolia: US citizens do not need a visa for Mongolia for stays three months and under. We did, however, have to register within five business days of entering the country, which we did in Olgii. If we hadn't registered, there may have been a problem leaving the country. We lucked out with the three month stay option, most western nationalities can only get a one-month visa for Mongolia.
China from Mongolia and China from Pakistan: more info than should be allowed to collect is available here.
Vietnam from China: We got our Vietnamese visas in Nanning, north of the Vietnamese border. Documents needed: application and visa fee ($65 plus $10 rush fee, same for most nationalities) in dollars. We got a one-month visa, not sure if a longer one was available; done the next day.
Cambodia at the border: A one-month visa is available at the border for $25, same for most nationalities. We crossed by bus from HCMC to Phnom Pehn, a border crossing that has bad stories attached to the Cambodian side (bogus fees). We didn't experience anything of the sort entering Cambodia, but leaving Vietnam, everyone on the bus except us and one other tourist (the rest were all locals) had tucked a dollar in their passport in order to bump theirs to the top of the exit stamp pile. This meant we had to wait around standing in the line an extra hour while everyone else was waiting for us on the bus. Ridiculous, since we all have to wait the same amount of time, and our passports had been collected on the bus so we couldn't get our dollar in after the fact - just a stupid bribe, not saving anyone any time or money and just leaving us frustrated.
Thailand from Cambodia: You can get a one-month visa waiver for free in Thailand if arriving by air, but if you're arriving by land (like us), the waiver is only good for 15 days. Knowing we'd be there longer than that, we decided to get a two-month visa for Thailand, available only at the embassy in Phnom Pehn (NOT at the border). We didn't go there ourselves, but paid a travel agent to arrange it for us for $15 per person (agent fees). We lucked out since Thailand had just eliminated all visa fees (yay!) for most nationalities so the two-month visa itself was free. No paperwork required, we just handed our passports and a photo to the travel agent.
Nepal at the airport and renewal in Pokhara: We got a one-month visa-on-arrival at the airport in Kathmandu (only photo required) for $60 per person, same for most nationalities. A two-month visa was available for $100 each, but we opted to forgo that just in case we didn't spend as much time in the country as we thought we might. Eventually we extended it for another month at the Tourist Office in Pokhara, but paid slightly more ($100 total) than we would have if we had just gotten the two-month visa to begin with. No paperwork required either time, only the fees in dollars and photos.
India in Nepal: We got a six-month Indian visa in Kathmandu, but had a travel agent do it, very much worth the $20 or so they charge. If you do it yourself, you face enormous hassle - like visiting the embassy the requisite three times and lining up at 5am to be seen before it closes at noon - agents have their special tricks for avoiding these hassles. Getting the visas still takes a week, but such a relief to not be able to share in the horror stories other travelers had of arranging Indian visas in Nepal. Go the agent route. We paid $80 per person per visa (Americans pay a little more than other nationalities). We paid the visa fees in Nepali rupees.
Pakistan in Nepal: The Pakistani embassy in Kathmandu was busy with tourists, a good sign, but few Americans. We had to submit a letter from the American embassy recommending us for a visa (the US embassy knew what to write), and $130 each, about $100 more than other tourists were being charged. Sucked. We requested and got a three-month single entry visa. We had an interview with a Pakistani embassy official (he was very nice) and had our visa the next day.
Kyrgyzstan in Pakistan: The Kyrgyz embassy staff in Islamabad is about the nicest group of guys we've met yet at any embassy. Their embassy is in a residential area, really a house, and it felt like we were being invited into a home, made comfortable and were accommodated in every way. No paperwork aside from a simple visa application form and a photo. We got a one-month visa. The fees were $55 for regular service and $110 for a single day turn-around, and when we asked how long 'regular' service takes, he said less than five days. We asked if that meant tomorrow and he said, oh yes. No need for 'rush' service if regular is one day. We had to deposit the $55 in dollars with their bank at the other end of town and bring back the receipt to pick up the visas. Even though the hours posted outside had visa services only available until 1, we knocked on the door around 3 and they didn't seem to care.
Tajikistan in Pakistan: Like the Kyrgyz embassy, the Tajik embassy is in a house and has the correspondingly relaxed feel of an at-home office. No paperwork necessary aside from a simple form and photos, and the fees depended on how long the visa was for. We got a two-month multiple entry visa for $100, plus $20 for rush (although requesting 'rush' probably wasn't necessary as it would have been done the next day anyway, not a lot of visa requests there), and the embassy officer asked us if we needed a GBAO permit for the Pamirs, which we do. We were lucky he volunteered it, as otherwise we would have had to pay a travel agency in Tajikistan to arrange one for us. He simply hand-wrote a note in our passports. If getting a Tajik visa, best to ask if the officer can grant the permit there.
Afghanistan in Tajikistan: there is an Afghan embassy in Dushanbe, but the best place to get an Afghan visa is in Khorog, right near the most commonly used border crossing between Tajikistan and Afghanistan (due to security issues near alternative crossing points, the Khorog crossing was popular with tourists when we were there). The visa can be obtained in one day, but it's dependent on whether the consulate and the bank where the payment must be made are both open; application forms available at the consulate, it costs $30 per person, and the visa affairs consular looks exactly like Sean Connery. We got our Afghan visa but never used it.
Uzbekistan in Tajikistan: As Americans, we read that it was recommended we get a Letter of Invitation (LOI) arranged for our Uzbek visa. We contacted Stantours to enquire if we really did need an LOI, and they said that while it wasn't strictly necessary - they'd heard of US citizens getting a visa without one - it negates the risk of rejection and speeds up the actual visa process, so we went ahead and got our LOIs. This has to be done through a company that interfaces with the Uzbek government, who issues the LOIs if we pass muster. We had Stantours arrange ours, and since the process can take more than a couple of weeks, we had requested it per email from Pakistan, well in advance of our planned visa application in Dushanbe. Once ready, the LOIs were emailed to us for printing out. Payment for the letters ($70) proved difficult, however, since Western Union was expensive for both parties, and PayPal locked both of our accounts when we tried to arrange payment to a country like Kazakhstan (where Stantours is based). The guys at Stantours kindly issued us our letters despite the fact we hadn't paid yet, and trusted us to pay them once we reached a capital city. We eventually paid an affiliated travel agency in Dushanbe in cash. With LOIs in hand, it only took one day for our visas to issue from the Uzbek embassy in Dushanbe, for $130 per person. Only one-month, single-entry visas were available for tourists.
Kazakhstan (again) in Tajikistan: Getting our second Kazakh visa was a breeze, the embassy staff in Dushanbe friendly and helpful, although the embassy is only open for a couple hours a day and only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Our Kazakh visas issued in two days, $40 per person, good for one month (we didn't ask for more).
Azerbaijan on arrival: We decided to fly into Baku for the express purpose of getting a visa on arrival (VOA). VOAs were not presently available via any other entry route, land- or sea-based, and we didn't want to wait in Dushanbe for the tedious Azeri visa process to work itself out. Fortunately, flying in worked just fine, although we had to wait an hour in the airport for the visa guy to arrive. It was $130 per person, for one-month, single entry.
Georgia at the border: Georgia does not require visas for nearly every country (except North Korea and its ilk) for stays shorter than 365 days. The crossing was easy with no customs and only a friendly wave and "welcome to Georgia!" from the border guards as they waived us through.
Turkey at the border: We got our Turkish visas without complication at the border, for $20 each. It was a three-month, multiple entry visa.
Syria at the border (twice): We got our Syrian visas at the border, entering once from Turkey and again from Lebanon. Syrian visas at the border are officially impossible for Americans but apparently issued with frequency, if requested politely enough. The border official first said, "no." When Sam said "Please?" he said the office in Damascus was closed. When Sam said, "Please?!" he said we'd have to come back tomorrow. When Sam said, "Please!!!" he said, "Okay" and we had our visa two hours later, for $16 per person. The second crossing into Syria took a little longer, at four hours (from Beirut to Damascus). Both times we got our Syrian visas, they were 15-day, single entry, the only kind available for tourists. Syria also charged a departure tax of 500 SP ($11) per person, both times we exited the country.
Lebanon at the border: We got our Lebanese visas without complication at the border, for $15 per person. It was a 15-day, single entry transit visa.
Jordan at the border: A one-month Jordanian visa is available at all border crossings EXCEPT the Allenby Bridge/King Hussein crossing between Jordan and Israel (odd since the other two Jordan/Israel crossings offer them). About $14 per person (payable only in dinars, but money changers abound), few formalities and no complications.
Israel at the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge border crossing. Three-month visas, free for citizens of many countries. We expected complications but had none. Erin was through in 5 minutes, Sam was detained a couple hours while they ran a background check, which it seems happens to all males - it was only men sitting in the waiting area with him while most women seem to get through without many questions. Israel doesn't much care what countries' stamps you have in your passport. It treats everything on a case-by-case basis so what you tell them is critical. It is important to deny that you will be traveling anywhere in the occupied territories (ie West Bank), or that you will be doing anything that sounds like activism. Deny knowing any Palestinians or Arabs or mentioning any of your friends in the Middle East who might have a Muslim-sounding name. Stress you are there only as a tourist. We had a name and number of a friend (with a Jewish name) in Jerusalem that we showed them, which I think helped, but is not necessary.
Israeli Stamp Stigma: We saved Israel as a last stop on a tour of the Middle East because any evidence of traveling in "Occupied Palestine", as most Middle East countries refer to Israel, will foreclose travel possibilities in these ten countries: Algeria, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Answering "yes" on the visa forms for those countries when they ask whether you have been to Occupied Palestine will earn you a denial of entry. The border guards will also look for evidence in your passport that you may have been to Israel, including a stamp (duh), ripped pages or rough spots on pages where a stamp may have been removed, or even evidence that Israel stamped a separate piece of paper, put it in the passport, closed the passport before the stamp ink was dry and thus left a hint of Israeli stamp on a passport page. There are several ways to avoid tainting a passport:
1. Maintain two passports, one for travel to Israel, one for travel to other countries. Most countries, including the US, allow the issuance of two valid passports with a showing of good cause. Some people we met were citizens of two countries so used one country's passport for Israel travel, the other for other countries.
2. Get Jordanian or Egyptian exit stamps on a separate piece of paper as well as the Israeli entrance stamp (if flying in, obviously only the entry stamp is a concern). It gets complicated if you're trying to do onward travel, say, Egypt - Israel - Jordan - Syria, since although the Israel-related stamps might be on separate slips of paper, according to your passport, you will have entered Egypt but then how in the world did you get to the Jordan-Syria border? Sure bet you're not getting into Syria since the only explanation is a route via Israel.
3. The best option is an out-and-back to Israel from Egypt or Jordan (both of which recognize Israel and so it's no problem traveling between them), or by flying in and out of Israel, keeping all those exit and entry stamps on separate pieces of paper. Jordan automatically gave us our stamp on a separate piece of paper, while Israel stamped it before we could say otherwise - if needing a separate piece of paper, notify the border officials first thing of your desire
